


Roll the Dice

by allwaswell16



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Based on a Tim McGraw and Faith Hill song, Birthday, Clubbing, Concerts, Friends to Lovers, Gambling, Humor, Las Vegas, Las Vegas Wedding, M/M, Pining, Smut, Weddings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-20
Updated: 2019-08-20
Packaged: 2020-08-11 20:42:52
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,870
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20159797
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/allwaswell16/pseuds/allwaswell16
Summary: Louis has been in love with Harry since they were eighteen. It isn't until Harry's thirtieth birthday in Las Vegas that Louis must finally decide to either tell Harry how he feels or let him marry someone else.





	Roll the Dice

**Author's Note:**

  * For [lululawrence](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lululawrence/gifts).

> Happy Birthday, Sus! Hope you enjoy this fic and all the others you're receiving today! This one is based on the song 'Roll the Dice' by Tim McGraw and Faith Hill. I hope you enjoy your day and know how loved and appreciated you are! Your friendship is one of the very best things this fandom has given me. Love you and can't wait to see you again soon! <3
> 
> Thank you to taggiecb for looking this over for me!

Louis has been in love with Harry since they were eighteen.

Well, that’s maybe a little dramatic of a thought, seeing as how he didn’t actually talk to Harry for any length of time until they met at a party when they were both twenty. But he’d seen Harry around campus and made up silly fantasies in his head about the boy with the curls falling in love with him.

His love for Harry at age thirty is wholly different than it was at eighteen or twenty. What was once a desire for his long fingers to pleasure him or his pouty, pink lips to devour him, has changed with time and long years of nearly inseparable friendship. Now those hands have held him as he cried his heart out, and those lips have spoken words of comfort and shouted with him in joy. 

While there have definitely been moments throughout their decade long friendship that he considered telling Harry how he feels about him, he always lets the moments flitter away with the wind. It’s just too big of a risk, he tells himself. He simply can not live his life without Harry. And if Harry has never made a move in ten years, he likely doesn’t feel the same. 

It’s not a mutual romantic love, and Louis has long ago buried away his love for Harry, only to be taken out and examined on certain occasions. When he’s going through a breakup or when Harry’s heart’s been broken. On his birthdays as he grows one year older without seeming to find a man he loves as much as Harry or when Harry’s birthday rolls around without him finding a lasting love either. And every time his friends remind him to take a chance on love, he dreams of one day having that kind of love with Harry.

As he and Harry walk into their shared Vegas hotel room to celebrate Harry’s thirtieth birthday with all their friends, he’s looking forward to not examining his feelings too much this time. They grin at each other as they look out the window and see the amazing view. Everything is great. After all, it’s Vegas. They’ll be busy in the casinos and shows and dancing and shopping and drinking and--

“I’m going to get married this weekend!”

“Wha--”

The interior door bangs open and Niall and Nick stumble in from their room on one side as Zayn and Liam enter from the interior door on the other side of the adjoining rooms. 

Niall dives onto one of the beds. “Who’s getting married?” 

Harry beams from ear to ear. “I am!” 

Liam looks as shaken as Louis feels. He always did like Liam. “To whom?”

Harry shrugs. “I don’t know yet.”

“He’s an absolute nightmare, I fucking swear to God,” Nick mumbles, laid out on Harry’s bed. 

Louis frowns. “He isn’t.”

“Don’t talk so loud,” Liam shushes.

“Babe, he can’t hear shit in the shower. And he’s singing _ Gold Dust Woman _ pretty loudly anyway,” Zayn says, reassuringly.

“Harry!” Niall hollers. “You’re an absolute nightmare!”

They all tense, but all they can hear is the shower and Harry’s voice belting out Stevie Nicks. Louis lets out a sigh.

Nick sits up and takes a drink from the bottle of beer he found in his mini fridge and motions to Louis. “He is, and you know it. We’re gonna have to babysit him all weekend now to keep him from doing something ridiculous like marrying a stranger.”

“I think he’s having a mid life crisis,” Liam muses.

Louis rolls his eyes. “He’s only thirty.”

“Yeah, but you know how he’s always wanted to get married.” Niall shakes his head as if it’s the craziest thing in the world to want to get married.

This is true. Harry’s always talked about meeting the love of his life and having kids. He swallows over the lump in his throat. He’s always dreaded the day that would happen, when he’d be forced to watch Harry leave him behind.

“Okay, I guess we need a plan then,” Louis admits. “We can’t let Harry marry someone on a whim and then regret it. He deserves so much better than that.”

Liam sits down next to Louis. “Don’t worry, Lou. We’ll just keep him really busy! There’s so much to do here.” 

While Liam seems optimistic, Louis notices the less optimistic glances being shared between the rest of them. Harry’s so incredibly stubborn when he wants to be. They’ll just have to hope that he’s not completely serious about finding someone to marry this weekend.

~~*~~

Harry is completely serious about finding someone to marry this weekend. 

He’s flirted with the blackjack dealer and a random guy at the craps table. There was a brief moment of panic when Harry won at roulette and a drunk man actually proposed _ to _ Harry. 

Luckily, it’s time for the show they’re seeing, and they’re able to convince Harry to come watch Tim McGraw and Faith Hill rather than see if he’s compatible with a twenty-one year old college student who wants to possibly marry him because he just won five hundred dollars at roulette. 

Unfortunately, seeing two happily married performers sing love songs to one another has Harry crying into Niall’s shirt. 

“Maybe that guy a row over isn’t with that woman next to him,” Harry says, blowing his nose into a napkin. “Maybe I should go see if he’d make a good husband.”

“He’s wearing a shirt that says, _ If lost return to bae _ , and the woman next to him is wearing a shirt that says, _ I’m bae_,” Liam says gently. “I think that means they’re together.”

Harry lets out a wail. “Of course, they’re together. That’s so sweet! Complimentary shirts. I’m going to die alone unless I find a husband today.”

Nick and Zayn both look like they wish the concert hall floor would open up and swallow them whole, and Liam looks helpless and alarmed, leaving he and Niall to handle a tipsy, emotional Harry. 

“Why doesn’t anyone want to marry me, Lou? Am I really such a terrible person?” 

Louis pats Harry in a hug. “Of course, people would want to marry you, Harry. You’re a wonderful person. Kind, caring, generous, interesting, lovely--”

Harry gives him a watery smile. “You think I’m lovely?”

“I do.”

“Maybe a little more lovely when you’re not getting snot all over us, but I mostly agree,” Niall says. 

Harry gives him a tremulous smile, too. 

“You just need to give it some time, Harry. Find the right person. Not this marry a stranger nonsense.”

Harry turns a look on Louis that he knows too well. This is when he knows they’re in real trouble here. It’s his stubborn as a mule look.

“Maybe I’ve already met the right person, and they don’t want me back. What about that? Maybe what I’ve got to do is roll the dice a little. Give someone unexpected a chance. There’s so much luck involved in marriage. Half of marriages end in divorce anyway. Why shouldn’t I just take a chance?” Harry takes a breath. “I’m going to the bathroom.”

Harry stomps away and the rest of them look at each other nervously. 

“I’ll go keep track of him,” Nick says with a sigh.

Louis keeps an eye on their return and is immediately suspicious when Harry returns with a bright smile and Nick returns looking panicked. There’s no time for discussion as Tim and Faith are on the stage, and Harry is singing along at the top of his voice. Well, at least he looks happy for the moment.

Harry should be happy though. It’s his thirtieth birthday, and Louis had hoped he’d have a wonderful time in Vegas with all their friends. This marriage thing has really put a damper on things. 

Maybe once they head out to dance at the club tonight, they’ll be having so much fun, Harry will forget about all this. They pile back into a couple Ubers and head back to their hotel after the show to clean up a little and go to the club on the top floor of their hotel. 

Harry seems oddly happy, but Louis doesn’t say anything until they’re all back in their rooms. Harry’s changed from his plaid shirt and cowboy hat into a sheer black blouse that makes Louis’ mouth go dry at the sight of Harry’s tattoos and muscled body on display in such a suggestive way. 

He clears his throat. “So, ready to dance?”

“Mhm. It’s my wedding night after all.”

“Um--what?”

“Nick agreed to marry me tonight if I can’t find someone else. Ready to go?”

“Wait, WHAT?”

The door on one side bursts open to reveal Niall, eyes wide. “I need to talk to Louis--now!”

Before he can do anything, he’s being pulled into Niall’s and Nick’s room with the door slamming behind him. 

“What the fuck is going on?” Louis demands. 

Nick is laying across his bed looking like he’s seen a ghost. “I don’t know what happened. He threatened to marry some dude selling commemorative cups near the concessions, and so I just said, you might as well marry me if you’re gonna marry a guy who probably smells like hot dogs. And then he said, _ I accept_. And now I think I might be engaged to Harry who as I’ve already said once today is an absolute nightmare.”

“You can’t marry, Harry.” Louis’ heart feels like it’s beating triple time. Harry can’t marry Nick of all people. 

“Hmmm.”

“Hmmmm? What the fuck is _ hmmm _ supposed to mean, Niall?” Louis demands.

“Just--look, we’ve got to keep him from marrying some stranger tonight. Why don’t we just let him marry Nick and--”

“What?”

“WHAT?”

“Just hear me out. Well, actually hold on.”

Niall flings open the door to their adjoined room and walks straight through to knock at Zayn’s and Liam’s rooms, ignoring Harry who is lounging on the bed. “Can you both come here for a minute?”

Louis is pacing the room when he returns with Zayn and Liam in tow before slamming the door behind him again.

“What’s going on?”

“Well, Liam, I think we may have a solution to our problem.”

Nick groans and covers his eyes with his arm.

“Okay?”

“What if we let Harry marry Nick?”

Zayn starts laughing, and Liam splutters.

“Well, see Nick proposed and--”

Nick sits bolt upright in bed. “I did not!” 

At the same time that Liam screeches, “You proposed?”

He always has liked Liam.

Zayn is still laughing at Nick. “Can’t believe you let Harry trick you. You’re an idiot.”

“Just everyone hold on a second!” Niall finally shouts before lowering his voice nearly to a whisper. “I think I have a plan.”

Louis stops pacing the room. “If it involves Harry marrying Nick, I think your plan sucks.”

“Just hear me out, Lou. What if Harry and Nick get married just for the weekend, and then when Harry calms down and we get him home safely, they can get the marriage annulled. As long as they don’t consummate the marriage, they can chalk it up to a drunken mistake and basically have the whole thing erased.”

“Ugh, definitely no consummating,” Nick says with a shudder. “He’s like my little brother. My annoying nightmare of a little brother.”

It’s not a bad plan, and Louis knows it. His stomach sinks like lead. 

~~*~~

They still go to the club.

Louis suspects Nick is now hopeful that Harry might find someone else to marry besides him, but his hopes are dashed because Harry now considers himself to be an engaged man. He also informs Nick that he’s got rings they can both use. 

Of course, he does. Harry wears rings on nearly every finger. 

The longer they dance and drink, the more frantic Louis’ heart beats. Harry’s still talking about marrying Nick, and Louis can’t believe it’s come to this. Harry’s going to marry one of their friends, and it isn’t him. He knows it’s a sham of a marriage and that Nick doesn’t even want to kiss Harry much less marry him. But it still hurts so much that his stomach twists itself into knots.

Louis keeps his distance, heading to the bar a few times too many. As soon as the clock strikes midnight, Harry takes this as his cue to get married. 

“Okay, everyone grab your drinks and let’s head out!” Harry announces.

Niall grabs his two drinks in his fists. “Head out where?”

Harry tsks. “To watch Nick and I get married, of course! I googled twenty-four hour chapels earlier. Let’s go.”

It’s harder and harder for Louis to catch a breath. He thinks he might be having some kind of anxiety attack. He’s not sure. He’s never had one before. Or maybe his lungs have shriveled up because his heart is about to be broken.

Nick looks like he’s being led to his death, Liam looks gravely concerned as he often does, Zayn keeps glancing back at Louis as if he _ knows _ (when did he figure it out?), and Niall clearly thinks his plan is grand and would be skipping towards the Uber if he weren’t double fisting his drinks. 

Louis doesn’t say a word. His tongue is quite possibly glued to the top of his mouth now. He’s practically panting with pain and panic, and fine, probably too much alcohol. Is it because he’s been drinking dry martinis? Is that why they’re called dry?

He has no idea where the chapel is, but they seem to arrive way too quickly. Just as they’re walking in, Harry grasps his arm.

“Louis?”

“Yeah?” He manages to croak.

“You’re my best friend in the whole world. Will you walk me down the aisle?”

Fate has never been more cruel than at this very moment. He can’t possibly say another word, so he just nods his head dumbly like the miserable idiot he is.

His head spins, his heart thuds. Nick’s being led one way and Harry the other and somehow Harry’s got flowers in his hands. They’re daisies, and they’re all wrong. He stares at the flowers horrified as if that’s what’s really gone wrong here. 

“They’re not roses.”

“What?”

“Your bouquet,” he whispers.

“Oh.” Harry looks down at the daisies in his hands. “How’d you know I would have wanted roses?”

Louis shrugs. “Everyone knows you love roses.”

Harry stares at him an uncomfortably long time. Does he finally sense something about Louis? Maybe not, he always stares too long at him anyway. That’s just how Harry is. He feels his shoulders sag a bit.

“Not everyone knows. Don’t think any of my ex-boyfriends ever bought me roses.”

He can’t stop the snort that comes out. “Yeah, well none of them were good enough for you.”

“Who is then?” Harry whispers. He almost looks--hopeful. Louis’ heart thumps even harder. He’s going to have a heart attack at this rate. 

Before he can say anything, the opening notes of _ Here Comes the Bride _ begins playing on an out of tune piano. Harry stares at him for one long beat. He looks--disappointed. No. Louis can’t let him do this. He just--can’t.

“I can’t let you do this. I just can’t.”

“Why not?”

Harry’s eyes have turned hopeful again, and Louis lets out a breath. But now he’s got to give Harry a reason not to marry Nick. 

“Because I’ve been in love with you since I was eighteen, and I can’t watch you marry someone else when I know you’re not in love with them.”

Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck. Fuuuuuucccccckkkkkkkkkkkk. 

He feels dizzy. Did he just tell Harry he was in love with him? Is this just a bad dream or--

“Took you long enough, Tomlinson.”

What? “What?”

Harry’s grinning now, a little teary eyed, which is quite frankly confusing, and then, Harry’s lips are pressed to his and he thinks his heart might explode. As first kisses go, it starts off oddly. He can tell Harry’s smiling as he kisses him (probably a good thing?), and his brain is working so slowly that it takes a while for him to do more than let it happen. 

He’s thought about this moment more than he’s thought about nearly anything in his life, and yet the fantasy could never have lived up to the moment that Harry’s lips finally found his own. He’s unprepared for the emotion for one thing. Harry. _ His _ Harry. Finally, he’s told his Harry that he loves him, and Harry’s response was to kiss him madly. He’s pretty sure that’s a good sign. 

Harry pulls back just far enough to say, “Can’t believe you almost let me marry Nick.”

Louis laughs, a sound of relief and happiness. His heart’s still thundering in his chest but not out of terror any longer. 

“I think I should go roll the dice right now. I’m feeling pretty lucky.”

“I can think of better things to do right now,” Harry mumbles against his lips, trying to get back to the kiss. 

“I guess there’s more than one way to get lucky.”

Harry’s lips return to his, and his hands slide over his back and to his waist and then his hips, holding his body to him. Louis’ hands have found their way into Harry’s curls at the nape of his neck as he tries to keep Harry from ever leaving their kiss. Louis parts his lips, and Harry accepts the invitation of his mouth, deepening the kiss until--

“I FUCKING KNEW IT!”

They pull apart as if doused with cold water and look at Niall’s who is leaping into the air as only a truly drunk person can do. 

“I knew you fuckers were in love with each other!”

And then Liam and Nick and and Niall and Zayn are gathered around yelling and laughing.

Nick looks as though he’s been given a reprieve and says, “Thanks for nearly giving me a stroke, you assholes.”

Harry laughs. “I wasn’t going to go through with it. Just thought I’d see how far it went. Turns out it went just far enough.”

Harry’s hand finds his and laces his fingers through Louis’. Nothing has ever felt more right. 

And then, they’re piling back into Ubers and spilling back out into their hotel lobby, still whooping and laughing and for two of them, stealing kisses and smiling their delight at finally finding each other even if had taken ten years.

Niall and Nick head off to the casino and Liam and Zayn head back to the club, but Harry’s eyes intensely urge him back to their room. As soon as the door shuts behind them, Harry’s backing him against the door, his mouth devouring his lips, his jaw, his neck. 

Louis can’t stop the moan that spills out. There’s one tiny little speck of a thought that Harry hasn’t actually said the words he wants to hear just yet, but maybe that’s to come. This, right here, is enough. 

Harry tears himself away. “Louis! God. I was waiting to be alone to tell you--and then, we are alone now--but all I could think of was ripping your clothes off and--”

Louis interrupts. “Tell me what?”

Harry’s entire face softens in a way that Louis’ always secretly hoped was a look reserved only for him. One that he rarely sees, and only out of the corner of his eye when Harry thinks he isn’t looking. But here it is again, openly aimed in Louis’ direction.

“That I’m in love with you, too. Since I was eighteen.”

Louis smiles. “You didn’t know me when I was eighteen.”

“You didn’t know me either.”

“I saw the hot guy with the curls across the quad playing frisbee with his friends. I’d see him heading to class, his eyes on his phone as his long legs strode across campus. He looked like someone I’d be friends with--he looked like someone I’d fall in love with. And one time he--”

“--threw his frisbee into the tree you were studying under and then came to get it back from the guy with the blue eyes who he followed all over campus, working up his nerve to talk to you.”

“What?” Louis’ genuinely astonished at this revelation.

“And it took me until that stupid party of Niall’s to finally say something more than hi, and then you ended up being so amazing and cool that I knew that I didn’t want to ruin anything. That I’d do anything just to be a part of your life.”

“We’re both idiots.”

“Yes,” Harry laughs. “But now you’re in my hotel room, and you’re in love with me, so can I get back to ripping your clothes off now?”

Louis throws out his arms. “Rip away.”

Harry doesn’t actually rip his clothes off. When he’d first started in, it seemed as though he might. But now, he just leans into Louis’ space. 

“God, Lou. I wasn’t sure this would ever happen for us.”

“Me either,” he admits.

“I want you so much, but I don’t need to go fast with you. When I say I’m in love with you, I mean I want something real with you. And I think I need to know if you feel the same way.”

“I do. God, I do. But also don’t you think ten years is slow enough?”

Harry’s lips turn up on one side into a smirk. “Fair point.”

And the next second, he’s being hoisted up into the air as Harry puts him over one shoulder. “Oof.”

Harry’s hand covers his ass as though he’s pretending that’s how’s he’s keeping Louis on his shoulder. He tosses Louis onto the bed with a soft thump. “Fast enough for you?”

Louis reaches out his arms from where he’s laying on the bed, and Harry crawls over him, boxing him in and lowering himself only far enough to kiss Louis’ lips. 

Their clothes end up half off and pulled aside, too caught up in kissing each other and touching each other to fully undress. It’s more frantic than Louis had ever imagined it, but he supposes that’s what happens after denying themselves for ten years. 

His fingers caress all the places he’s always dreamed of touching, and Harry’s groans make him feel like he’s won a jackpot. And then, Harry’s got them both in his hands, pulling them off together as Louis groans, too. There’s more friction than Louis normally would like, but god, nothing could stop this from happening right now. It’s fate or destiny or a force greater than anything else he’s ever experienced. 

Harry pulls his mouth away so that he can pull back to stare into Louis’ eyes as he slides his hand around them both in a rhythm that leaves Louis panting his name, using Louis’ climax to finish himself. 

They’re a mess, but they lay back on the bed grinning like fools. 

“Really glad you decided to take a chance on me, Louis.”

“Like you left me much choice! Couldn’t let you marry Grimshaw, now could I?”

Harry shrugs, his dimpled smile wide. “Felt like my lucky night. Had to roll the dice.”

  
  
  
  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> If you enjoyed the fic, please leave kudos and comments! If you can [reblog this fic post](https://allwaswell16.tumblr.com/post/187141039906/roll-the-dice-a-larry-fan-fiction-by-allwaswell16) or [retweet this tweet](https://twitter.com/all_was_well_16/status/1163806771108077568?s=20), I will love you forever! <3 
> 
> Also, if you're reading this on August 20th, go wish lululawrence a happy birthday!


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